CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 15 MIT men's volleyball team split a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday at Rockwell Cage. MIT swept past Wheaton 3-0 in the opening match before falling to No. 19 Lasell in three sets in the final match of the day.
THE BASICS:
- Scores:
- No. 15 MIT 3, Wheaton 0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-19)
- No. 19 Lasell 3, No. 15 MIT 0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-11)
- Records: No. 15 MIT (20-7 Overall,), Wheaton (10-16 Overall), No. 19 Lasell (19-6 Overall)
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. WHEATON:
- Set 1: The Engineers took control of the opening set late. With MIT leading 21-19, the hosts earned four straight points to close out the game, as Wheaton committed three errors and Hansen Fan put down a kill, to push MIT to the 25-19 win.
- Set 2: Wheaton held a 10-9 lead in the second set before the teams played to a 12-12 tie. MIT then ran off five straight points, capped by a service ace from Ryan Espinoza, to take command, 17-12. The Engineers never trailed for the remainder of the frame, winning by the same five-point margin when Jensen Fiskin set-up Espinoza for the final kill to give the Engineers the 25-20 win.
- Set 3: MIT carried the momentum into the final set, cruising to a 13-7 lead on the way to a 25-19 final. With the Engineers leading 23-15, Wheaton scored three consecutive points to extend the match. However, MIT kills from Aden Adjei and Fan ended the match.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Espinoza was all over the court for the Engineers, finishing the match with five kills, five aces, three blocks and an assist.
- Alexander Garrett had a team-high eight kills for MIT.
- MIT limited Wheaton to a .143 attack percentage, finishing the match with eight blocks.
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. LASELL:
- Set 1: An ace from Garrett tied the match at 17, but Lasell quickly scored four of the next five points to build a 21-18 advantage. MIT got back to within one point on a kill from Garrett but an Engineer service error gave the visitors set one, 25-23.
- Set 2: After a kill from Henry Garewal put MIT in the lead, 11-10, the Lasers used a 4-1 run to pull ahead 14-12. Garewal got the host to within one with another kill which cut the Lasell lead to 16-15, but the visitors slowly rebuilt their lead. Colin Zimmerman got MIT even at 22 with an ace, but the visitors got a kill from Teddy Teraszkiewicz to take set two, 25-23.
- Set 3: Lasell jumped out to an early advantage and never looked back as they took the final set by a 25-11 score.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Garrett once again led MIT in kills with 8 while Garewal finished with six.
- Zimmerman finished with 22 assists, and also had three digs and two blocks.
UP NEXT:
- The Engineers head into the conference tournament next weekend as they will head to SUNY New Paltz for the UVC Tournament. MIT earned the two seed and will face the winner of Friday's match against No. 3 NYU and No. 6 St. John Fisher on Saturday, April 11 at 5:00 PM.
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